From the publisher: An important board book addition to any little person’s first library, Hey, Baby, Look! is underpinned by brain research and whimsical creativity. Its sturdy pages are rich in color, beautifully illustrated, and full of rhyming fun!

My thoughts:

In the 6 1/2 yeas I’ve been doing this parenting gig, we’re read a lot of board books. Particularly with my youngest who was a little more “hands on” in his reading.

Meaning, he would either eat or destroy paper books.

We’ve read the simplest of board books, with a single image and corresponding identifying word on a page. We’ve read board book adaptations of longer picture books. We’ve read Sheep in a Jeep until the jeep wasn’t the only thing in pieces.

But we hadn’t read anything quite like Hey, Baby, Look! Each page starts with the phrase, ‘Hey, Baby, look!’ which, if your kid is like mine, actually works to focus the reader’s attention on that page. This is then followed by a series of questions or directions corresponding with one of four images on the opposite page:

Hey, Baby, look!

Which one keeps you warm?

Point to the boat.

Where is the show?

Which one can float?

The questions vary in cognitive ability, which is nice because it extends the life of this book. Skills range from identifying objects, to colors, to counting, to letters. The images are simple, bright, and distinct. Youngest readers can be guided through the questions with finger-pointing, while my older (3yo) reader actively engages and verbally responds without my prompting. We may be beyond the board books that with single images and identifying words, but this one keeps his attention and is kept in regular rotation at our house.